Why we needed an Emergency Fund

In life there are always ups and downs, periods of rest and unrest, calm weather and stormy weather.
The past 2 years have been very stormy for us financially and had it not been for our emergency fund or savings we would have been sunk.

Last year and the first part of this year we struggled with a car that we eventually determined was a lemon and had to go.
It all started with transmission and computer trouble.
A few months later the torque convertor went out.
We thought maybe the worst was over until the engine started misfiring.
After spending thousands of dollars within a short time we finally decided that this thing had to go.

Determined not to go into debt for a car ever again, we began shopping for something that we could just swap for.
We found a great deal on another vehicle, but as the dealership inspected our car, somehow it sprang a radiator leak.
In disbelief, I went to see for myself and lo and behold there was a stream of green fluid running out from under the car.
Still determined to get rid of this car, I took it and had the radiator replaced and thankfully the dealership took it.

To top things off, this year an epic rain fall flooded our crawl space, costing another couple thousand dollars to repair.

Through it all though, we thankfully did not have to revert to the use of a credit card once. We didn’t even have a credit card to use because we had cut them up many years ago.
But the only way we are able to live without credit cards and still feel secure is to have an emergency fund. You never know what life might bring your way.

Right now, we are working on building our emergency fund back up and just praying that there will be some peace in the midst of the storm for a little while.

I hope that our story inspires you to either get your own emergency fund built up or strengthen the one you have.